Last cycle, Mitt Romney won Utah's 4th District by a 37-point margin. That same year, Matheson defeated Love by 768 votes.

Love's convention victory will likely bolster the party's image with women and minorities.

It is also a second win in one day for Project GROW, a program created to help female GOP candidates. Earlier on Saturday, state Del. Barbara Comstock won the Republican nomination for a competitive House district in northern Virginia.